Hosting a pointing system, such as a telescope, on a body like an orbiting space station provides advantages and disadvantages. For example, it is convenient to have the telescope mounted in a relatively accessible location. On the other hand, shadowing effects from the structural elements of the mounting body can reduce the viewing capability of the telescope. Shadowing of the telescope can also occur due to celestial bodies such as the Sun, Earth and Moon.
Determining when and how much shadowing affects telescopes in potential or existing locations can be beneficial to image recording of selected targets. For example, determining the effects on shadowing on a telescope can be used to assess the viability of a proposed telescope with a proposed geometry at a proposed mounting location. Also, evaluating shadowing in multiple directions of interest can allow for scheduling image recording of those directions by the telescope to optimize “stare-time” of the telescope.
Assessing how much continuous “stare-time” is achievable by the pointing system in all directions of interest would allow for the creation of human-readable “sky charts.” Such sky chart could illustrate, for a selected telescope configuration at a selected time period, how much and what areas of the celestial sky are uninterruptedly visible for various durations of stare-time. Further, such sky charts would be useful for evaluating potential telescope locations and configurations, and for optimizing use of existing telescopes at known locations.
Hence, there is a need for a method and system for evaluating stare-time by a pointing system. The method and system can be utilized to plan design and installation of a proposed pointing system, to optimize use of an existing pointing system, and to produce easily understood sky charts for evaluation of pointing systems. Other desirable features and characteristics of the method and system will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the preceding background.